Listening for Integrated STEM Discourse: Power and Positioning in a Teacher Professional Development Dataset Activity

Abstract

The “leaky pipeline” in STEM remains an open issue. The integration of multiple STEM subjects, especially technology, is a promising approach, and pre-collegiate STEM teachers are particularly underprepared in this content area. In this case study, the authors explore and characterize the discussions of pre-collegiate STEM teachers among themselves when working with a large astronomy dataset using a web-based spreadsheet tool. The authors used a feminist social constructivism theoretical framework and obtained observational field notes on five, in-service, STEM primary and secondary teachers (purposefully selected from 15 potential groups). The participants were audio and video recorded as they worked on the activity for two hours. Discourse analysis was used as qualitative analysis. Results show that the participants positioned group members with higher social status (based on gender, degrees, experience, etc.) as peer mentors. The peer mentors controlled the computer and guided the others to develop pedagogical content knowledge. The computer was also used as a technological bridge between science and math concepts. Participants showed evidence of not only integrating STEM concepts in their discussion, but also made connections to the science-adjacent topics of geography and technical writing. Suggestions are made for teachers and professional development workshop organizers to help ameliorate inequity in this setting.

Keywords

• teacher professional development
• women in STEM
• integrated STEM
• equity and gender
• discourse analysis
• technology